The Rant: P-I writers and editors get a few things off their chest

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, October 1, 2002

Two of the first three playoff games yesterday were on ABC Family, a cable channel you'd need a microscope to find. How many sports bars and hotels have that channel? How many cable subscribers even know whether they have it?

Then they go and start the last game of the day (St. Louis-Arizona) at 10 p.m. Central time, meaning the kids in St. Louis who've followed the Cardinals all summer will probably miss the biggest game of the year. And who will be watching in the Eastern time zone?

Golf critics: Enough of blaming the United States' failure in the Ryder Cup on captain Curtis Strange.

In the final day singles matches, he correctly positioned his players to get the job done. The players in the latter matches were proven veterans with a combined singles record of 10-2-1 going up against four European Ryder rookies.

Broadcasters: Some don't know when to say when: In the past week, back when the Mariners were still in contention for the playoffs, we saw extra-inning victories with joyous celebrations. And Rick Rizzs shouting about it.

This past weekend, we saw the Giants clinching a wild-card berth, and the Fox announcers talking and analyzing through the entire champagne-soaked locker room celebration.

Enough already. Remember, you're on television. You don't need to tell us what's happening -- we can see it. Sit back and let us watch and soak it in.

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A picture may be worth a thousand words, but you need not feel obligated to compete.

Parting shots: So much for that ridiculously long streak of losses that was supposed to end for Oregon State at the Coliseum. . . . It's October. Has anybody seen the Mariners?